Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Stop climate change | Tags: GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, saan galing ang tubig mo, tubig, Water, water watch project
Day 1-19 April
Bgy.Caingin San Rafael
After 8 days of camping out in Angat Dam to monitor the fast receding rate of the water levels, Water Watch Project takes on the surrounding agricultural lands.
The first farmland that the team head on is Barangay Caingin San Rafael, Bulacan. For those farmers who started planting rice last January, their farmlands have already been affected by El Niño. Mr. Leoncio Hernandez, a farmer with 3 hectares of land relay his story by showing his green fields in which the land is starting to dry up due to the scarcity of water. He said that rice crops can still be harvested but it will be mostly just ipas or empty shells. The water source of their farmlands comes from Angat Dam but since the dam stop supplying water for irrigation their rice land now suffers more. During the first week of April they were trying to save their fields by pumping what little water they can from a small creek nearby. But now even the creek is drying up. He said that if they won’t still have water this week, they won’t be able to save their rice crops.
A.C. Dimatatac
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Dick Gordon, Erap Estrada, Forests, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, Jamby Madrigal, JC Delos Reyes, Manny Villar, Nicky Perlas, Noynoy Aquino, UP Baguio Mountaineers, UPBM Run for Trails 2010, Water, water watch
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t was 14 degrees Celsius up here in Baguio City when we arrived to join the University of the Philippines(UP) Baguio Mountaineers Trail Run 2010 this morning. The cool temperature suited the runners’ mood for a 13-K run for trails which kicked off at Scout Barrio. The event started at exactly 8 AM after the briefing and orientation, with more or less 80 participants. Greenpeace supports the 7th Edition of the Run for Trails 2010 which is an annual run organized by the UP Baguio Mountaineers to highlight the importance of conserving our forests and promote trail running as a sport. Continue reading
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, Greenpeace, greenpeacebuzz, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
One of the volunteers waterproofing the camp.
Early this morning our sleep was cut short by what started out as a drizzle of rain that suddenly became a shower that caught us all by surprise.
Our day started with putting things under the makeshift shed that was hastily created to waterproof our sleep area as well as our electronic equipment. Everyone scrambled to put up some tarps and waterproof our gear and equipment. In the middle of the rain some of us tried putting up a rain gauge to measure the precipitation levels.
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Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, Greenpeace, greenpeacebuzz, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
Dead fish that were landlocked when the waters subsided can be found around the water camp area
The star-lit tapestry in the sky signals the end of our first day at camp.
The day started at around 5AM when I was met in the office with colleagues, friends and comrades from Greenpeace, who like me were also preparing their gear for the camp.
A few minutes prior to our departure I wrote of my Facbook status: “umalis para hanapin kung saan galing ang tubig na iniinom mo.” (left to discover where our drinking water comes from.)
Filed under: Greenpeace, Life at work, Philippines, Volunteers | Tags: 2010 Presidential Elections, Activists, Edsa, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, greenpeacebuzz, Philippine Elections, Volunteers
EDSA, is the main circumferential road and highway of Metro Manila as it functions as an important commuting artery between the northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area. Moreover it is known for place in Philippine history as it served as a venue to some of the biggest political upheavals in recent times.
Yesterday, Greenpeace volunteers unfurled banners along the stretch of EDSA to challenge presidential candidates to take up environmental concerns in their campaign platforms, especially since these issues impact on basic needs: clean energy, clean water and safe food.
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines | Tags: Green Electoral Initiative, Philippine Elections, Presidential Elections, Rancid
“Do you know where the power lies?”
This was a question that was posed by the seminal So Cal punk band Rancid in their 1995 album …And Out Come the Wolves, a question that I myself was forced to answer when I first played it on our tape deck as a teenager.
The line is from a song whose title nowadays rings a bell when heard as it is entitled The 11th Hour a now familiar line as it has also been the title of a Leonardo DiCaprio documentary that speaks of the urgency for climate action.
Again I am reminded that we are in an age of do or die decisions as far as the environment is concerned. Pollution has escalated beyond that of local incidence but to a scale that now transcends national and geopolitical boundaries; the nuclear industry lobby has now seized the opportunity to posture itself as the silver bullet solution to the energy requirements that hopes to eventually phase out fossil fuels in order to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide that leads to global warming; and even the food we eat is now threatened with the poisons and yet-to-be known side effects of industrial farming and genetic engineering.
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Greenpeace Southeast Asia 